With every election, voters are subjected to the usual barrage of confusing information that, in many cases, only serves to confuse the issues and leaves people hoping that they have made the right decision when they vote.
The information fed to people in the months and weeks leading up to the election is most always based either in fact, fiction, or it is an expression of what someone thinks is right, simply because it feels right. Such is the case with referendum Question 1, which deals with the elimination of bear baiting, trapping and hounding.
Separating fact from fiction, or the trappings of what “feels right,” begs the question: How can I determine what the truth is? There is a simple test: consider that most everything we interact with in our daily lives is rooted in years of scientific data, whether it be the automobiles we drive, the planes we fly in or the bridges we place our faith in every day.
What would life be like if we entrusted our lives to what someone thinks is right just because it feels right. It simply wouldn’t happen.
Knowing that, why would people not trust the 40 years of scientific data gathered by Maine’s wildlife biologists; men and women who have no political ax to grind or hidden agendas, who simply do what they were trained for — to serve Maine’s wildlife to the best of their ability?
I will let science be my guide and vote “no” on Question 1.
Roland Rancourt Jr., Auburn
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